In 1974, as part of the Federal Graphics Improvement Program of the National Endowment for the Arts, NASA hired Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn to design a more modern logo. In 1975, the agency switched to the modernist NASA logotype, nicknamed "the worm", a red, stylized rendering of the letters N-A-S-A. The A's horizontal bar is removed in the worm logo. The NASA logotype was retired from official use in 1992. This emblem has been replaced with the NASA "meatball" vector design as the official logo.